Lead dispenser having slide actuated cover

ABSTRACT

A dispenser for long leads for mechanical pencils consisting of an outer casing having at least one open end, and an inner slide member which is guided by the casing and adapted to contain the leads and has a cover member pivotably connected to its open end which, when the slide member is being shifted toward the open end of the casing, is shifted outwardly of the casing and at the same time pivoted away from the then exposed parts of the leads.

United States Patent Katz et al. Mar. 14, 1972 [54] LEAD DISPENSERHAVING SLIDE 3,070,260 12/1962 Smith ..221/l02 ACTUATED COVER 2,262,74911/1941 Berwald.. ..229/l9 X ,9 2, 2 1119 4 L ..206 67 [72] Inventors:Otto Katz, Schwabach; Werner Kranich, 2 4 2 :3 at al 206/56 Q Roma],both of Germany [73] Assignee: A. W. Faber-Caste", Stein, GermanyPrimary Examiner-Samuel F. Coleman Assistant Examiner-David A. Scherbel[22] 1970 AttorneyRichards 8L Geier [21] App1.No.: 7,930

[57] ABSTRACT U.S. A dispenser for long leads for mechanical pencilsconsisting of Int. t ..B65d an outer casing having at least one open enda d an inner [58] Field 01 Search ..22l/99, 102, 190, 193, 268, u memberwhich i guided by the casing and adapted to 2212247449 Z 206/16 16contain the leads and has a cover member pivotably con- 6 l 229/9 20nected to its open end which, when the slide member is being shiftedtoward the open end of the casing, is shifted outwardly [56] Referencescued of the casing and at the same time pivoted away from the thenUNITED STATES PATENTS exposed parts of the leads. 1,978,497 10/ 1 934Lind ..206/DIG. 32 4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAR 14 I972 OTTc'Z WERNER KRANICH INVEN'IORS y; W a. A.

ATTORNEY:

LEAD DISPENSER HAVING SLIDE ACTUATED COVER The present invention relatesto a container for black or colored leads for mechanical pencils inwhich the leads are held individually in grooves in a slide member atthe inside of the container.

Among the many different kinds of lead containers as are presently knownthere is a primitive type which has a cap fitted over one open end ofthe container, and a rather complicated type from which the leads may beremoved individually through an open end by means of a slide member.While the manipulation of the first type of these containers and theremoval of individual leads therefrom is rather complicated, the secondtype is difficult to manufacture and also has the disadvantage thatoften it does not function properly.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a lead containerwhich may be easily manufactured and also easily manipulated and will atall times function properly.

According to the invention this object is attained by providing thecontainer in the form of an outer casing with at least one open end anda slide member in this casing which is guided thereby and provided inone side with longitudinal grooves each of which may contain at leastone long head. This slide member is provided with a separate end orcover part which is pivotably connected by suitable hinge means to theslide member itself and has an end wall for normally preventing theleads from sliding out of the casing. The slide member is movablelongitudinally through the open end of the casing for a limited distancewhich corresponds to the length of the pivotable cover part, and the twoparts of the slide member are provided with associated cam means whichpivot the cover portion to a position at right angles to the casing whenthe slide member is shifted forwardly. These cam means preferablyconsist of internal cam projections on the inner wall of the casing andof associated cam surfaces on the cover part which engage with and slidealong the cam projections when the slide member is moved forwardly andthereby turn the cover part positively to its open position at a rightangle to the casing. Since by this forward movement of the slide memberthe ends of the leads which were previously enclosed by the cover partproject from the casing, they may be easily withdrawn individually.

The wall of the casing is further provided with at least one aperturethrough which a person holding the casing in one hand may press, forexample, his thumb upon the slide member and push the same forwardlyuntil its cover part is pivoted to its end position. For attaining abetter grip upon the slide member through the aperture in the casing,this member is provided with transverse knurls or ribs, which preferablyproject slightly from the inside of the casing into the aperture so thatthe front and rear ribs may serve for the additional purpose of abuttingagainst the front or rear end of the aperture so as to limit the extentof the forward and rearward movements of the slide member.

For guiding the slide member more accurately within the casing, thenarrow longitudinal sides of the slide member or of the inner wall ofthe casing member may be provided with narrow sliding projections orsliding edges which are in sliding engagement with the smooth adjacentsurfaces of the other member. Of course, the adjacent narrow surfaces ofthese two members may instead also be provided with correspondingguiding projections and recesses which slidably engage into each other.

The features and advantages of the present invention will become furtherapparent from the following detailed description thereof which is to beread with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 showsa front view of the lead container in its opened or dispensing positionand partly broken away for better illustration;

FIG. 2 shows a top view upon the opened front end of the lead containeras shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal section of the lead container in the openposition as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows a detail side view of the pivotable cover part of the slidemember;

FIG. 5 shows a longitudinal section of the casing part of the leadcontainer; while FIG. 6 shows a top view of the casing and of the coverpart in its outwardly pivoted position.

As illustrated in the drawings, the lead container according to theinvention comprises an outer casing l which may be open at both ends andone wider side wall of which is provided with an aperture 1 of a certainlength. The lead container further comprises an inner part which isslidable longitudinally within the casing l and consists of a slidemember.2 and a cover part 4 which is pivotably connected to slide member2 by short hinge pins 6 which project inwardly from the free ends of thetwo side arms of the cover part 4 and engage into a pair of recesses inthe front end of slide member 2. For guiding the slide member 2 asaccurately and with as little friction as possible within the casing l,the inner surfaces of the narrow walls of the casing are provided withnarrow guide ridges la. The other ends of these side arms of the coverpart 4 are connected to each other by an angular part 4' which, whenslide member 2 is retracted into casing l and the cover part 4 ispivoted upwardly, covers the front ends of the leads 5 which aredeposited in longitudinal grooves in the rear side of slide member 2 andthus prevents these leads 5 from sliding out of these grooves. Forpivoting the cover part 4 during the forward movement of slide member 2from its position in straight alignment with the slide member to aposition substantially at a right angle to the casing l and to slidemember 2 so as to permit the individual leads 5 to be withdrawn from thecontainer, the upper ends of the narrow side walls of easing l areprovided with cam projections l" which are operatively associated withcam edges 4" on the side arms of the cover part 4. It is apparent thatwhen the slide 2 is moved longitudinally to free the cover 4 there willbe friction between the cam edges 4" and the cam projections 1" as theresult of which a torque is produced which will swing the cover 4 intothe perpendicular position shown in FIG. 3.

The outer side of slide member 2 opposite to the side containing thelongitudinal grooves for the leads 5, that is the side of the slidemember which frees the wall of easing l in which the aperture 1' isprovided, has a plurality of transverse riblike knurls 3 which cover apart of the length of the slide member which corresponds to the lengthof the sliding movement of slide member 2 in casing 1. When the slidemember 2 is in its retracted position and the casing l is held in onehand, the operator may press, for example, the thumb of the same handthrough the aperture 1' upon the knurled part 3 of the slide member 2and push the latter forwardly until the cover part 4 is pivotedoutwardly and the leads 5 project from the casing 1 for the distance asshown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The leads 5 may then be easily withdrawnindividually from the container. At least the uppermost knurl 30 and thelowermost knurl 3a project slightly into the aperture 1' in the wall ofeasing l and serve additionally as stop means for limiting the extent ofthe forward and retracting movements of slide member 2 by abuttingagainst the upper or lower edge of the aperture 1'.

The different parts of the lead container according to the invention maybe made very easily and at a low cost in a mass production by beingmolded of a suitable plastic. At least the slide member 2 is preferablymade of a transparent plastic so that, even when it is fully retractedinto the casing 1, it is easily possible to see through the aperture 1'the color of the leads 5 which are deposited in the grooves in the rearside of slide member 2 and whether or not there are any leads stillremaining in these grooves.

Although my invention has been illustrated and described with referenceto the preferred embodiment thereof, I wish to have it understood thatit is in no way limited to the details of such embodiment but is capableof numerous modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, whatl claim is:

1. A lead container comprising an outer casing having at least one openend, an inner slide member longitudinally slidable in and guided by saidcasing and having at least one longitudinal recess in one side wall,said recess having one open end and adapted to contain a plurality ofleads of a length exceeding the length of said slide member so as toproject for a certain distance from said open end of said recess, acover member pivotably connected to said slide member adjacent to itsopen end and adapted to be fully retracted with said slide member intosaid casing, and then to cover the projecting ends of said leads, andcam means on said casing for positively forcing said cover member topivot from a first position substantially in straight alignment withsaid side member to a second position outside of the open end of saidcasing and at an angle to said casing and said slide member when saidslide member is being moved in the direction toward said open end ofsaid casing.

2. A lead container as defined in claim 1, in which said pivoting meanscomprise first cam means on said casing adjacent to its open end andsecond cam means on said cover member adapted to slide along said firstcam means when said slide member is shifted toward said open end of saidcasing and thereby to pivot said cover member from said first positionto said second position.

3. A lead container as defined in claim 1, in which one side wall ofsaid casing is provided with an aperture through which a person holdingsaid casing in one hand may press a finger upon said slide member andpush the latter from its retracted position toward the open end of saidcasing and vice versa.

4. A lead container as defined in claim 3, in which the side wall ofsaid slide member facing said aperture in said casing is provided withtransverse knurls, at leas t the uppermost and the lowermost of saidknurls projecting slightly into said aperture and being respectivelyadapted to abut against the upper and lower edge of said aperture so asto limit the extent of the forward and retracting movements of saidslide member.

1. A lead container comprising an outer casing having at least one open end, an inner slide member longitudinally slidable in and guided by said casing and having at least one longitudinal recess in one side wall, said recess having one open end and adapted to contain a plurality of leads of a length exceeding the length of said slide member so as to project for a certain distance from said open end of said recess, a cover member pivotably connected to said slide member adjacent to its open end and adapted to be fully retracted with said slide member into said casing, and then to cover the projecting ends of said leads, and cam means on said casing for positively forcing said cover member to pivot from a first position substantially in straight alignment with said side member to a second position outside of the open end of said casing and at an angle to said casing and said slide member when said slide member is being moved in the direction toward said open end of said casing.
 2. A lead container as defined in claim 1, in which said pivoting means comprise first cam means on said casing adjacent to its open end and second cam means on said cover member adapted to slide along said first cam means when said slide member is shifted toward said open end of said casing and thereby to pivot said cover member from said first position to said second position.
 3. A lead container as defined in claim 1, in which one side wall of said casing is provided with an aperture through which a person holding said casing in one hand may press a finger upon said slide member and push the latter from its retracted position toward the open end of said casing and vice versa.
 4. A lead container as defined in claim 3, in which the side wall of said slide member facing said aperture in said casing is provided with transverse knurls, at least the uppermost and the lowermost of said knurls projecting slightly into said aperture and being respectively adapted to abut against the upper and lower edge of said aperture so as to limit the extent of the forward and retracting movements of said slide member. 